GCPD files: Two of hearts
by KendraDane
Summary: Detective Montoya goes undercover to uncover a series of missing women. Ch 9 & 10 up. Complete!
1. Default Chapter

"This has got to be the MOST stupid thing I've EVER agreed to in my life!"  
  
Detective Renee Montoya stared at her reflection in the full-length mirror, and shook her head. She wore a black silk blouse that laced up the front, a short black skirt and thigh high boots. She was going to KILL whoever had the bright idea of putting her undercover on this case. She regretted now, stating that she could sing, under the "Skills and Talents" portion of the application that she'd filled out when she'd been hired at the GCPD. She'd never thought that she would be put undercover as a singer at a dive like the Two of Hearts. And a dive it was.  
  
She'd had ample time to check out the place after it's owner, Bob Morley, had contacted the police. Five of his singers, all female, all under thirty, and all pretty, had gone missing within the last six months. While it could have just been written off to chance, Montoya didn't think so. In this town, nothing seemed to happen by chance. And while she'd picked up on the duality of the club's name, she didn't believe that Two-Face was behind the disappearances. For one thing, he'd never been spotted at the club. And two, this wasn't his style.  
  
"Madre de Dios! He's got ME thinking in two's now!"  
  
She tried not to shake her head or laugh at the thought, but somehow she ended up doing both. Her relationship with Harvey Dent, a.k.a., Two-Face, was confusing at best, and something that she couldn't take the time to think about right now. Now it was time for her to go from being Renee Montoya, Detective Second Class, to being Isabella Contreraz, a singer hoping to hit the big time.  
  
"Who would EVER be discovered at a place like the Hearts?"  
  
Taking a deep breath, she applied a bit more lipstick to her lips, checked herself out in the mirror one last time, and turned and walked out of the tiny dressing room that had been given to her. It was do or die time. She not only had to appear to be a convincing singer, she had to be good enough to make it to the A list of singers that all five of the missing girls had been. It was show time and she had to be focused. She heard her "name" being announced as the next act. Quickly, she rehearsed what she'd been told to do, it was simple really: go out there, make eye contact, build a repertoire between the crowd and herself, sing her six songs, and then go mingle with the crowd.  
  
What could possibly go wrong?  
  
********************   
An hour and twenty minutes later, she sat on a bar stool, trying to ease the pain in her feet. Her boots weren't made for walking and certainly not made for the bar room brawl that had ensued a little over forty minutes ago. The police had already come and gone, and the employees already had cleanup underway.  
  
"Don't worry. It gets easier." Montoya looked up at the bartender, who was busy brushing broken glass from the bar. David Simone, she remembered from the files she'd read on the employees at the Hearts, before starting the investigation. "You look doubtful," he continued. " Don't worry, most times it's just drunk assholes who fight one another. They usually leave the girls alone. Tonight was the exception. You ok?"  
  
Montoya nodded and felt the knot on her head. She had been hit with a beer bottle when the man that the bottle had been intended for had dodged out of the way at the last second. Her back had been turned, so she hadn't seen the blow coming. She'd retaliated with a left hook, which had laid the drunk out.  
  
"Well, Bell, it's nice to meet you. Just call me Dave. It, uh, looks unlikely that we'll be re-opening after this. You want me to give you a ride home after we're given the OK to leave?"  
  
Montoya silently contemplated whether or not he was just being friendly, or if he was the obsessed, stalker type. She realized that she really didn't know enough about any of the employees to make such a judgment, yet. Sitting back she nodded to Dave in thanks. She had rented out a weekly at the Gotham Arms Hotel. Talk about dives! The Arms was the kind of place you only went when you had no one or nowhere else to go. Which was just how she wanted to appear.  
  
"Thanks, Dave. I'd really appreciate it."  
  
It was just about time to call it a night. In all honestly she wanted to get out of there. She had lots of work to do before turning in for the night. She wanted to review all the employee records and compare them to what she'd already learned about them. Also, all night, she'd felt eyes watching her. Not hostile or violent, just watching, observing. She hadn't noticed anyone paying particular attention to her all night, though. She'd have to ask Morley about it tomorrow. It was time to go "home." 


	2. Chapter 2

Disclaimer: I don't own Montoya or any of the other DC characters. Just borrowing them. I'll put them back when I'm done!  
  
GCPD Files: Two of Hearts: Chapter 2  
  
"Can I come in?"  
  
Montoya looked up at David Simone, one of the bartenders at the Two of Hearts. He was looking at her with blatant interest and lust. She had been the object of men's desires before, but he was truly creeping her out with his forwardness. Yet, at the same time, she didn't feel he was the perpetrator in her case. However, she wouldn't hesitate to take Dave in as well, should he do anything illegal. She realized that he was still waiting for an answer from her, when he quietly cleared his throat.  
  
"Well, I'm really tired. Maybe another time?" She didn't want to blow off the only person who had been friendly towards her, not just yet. She may need him later. "I'm afraid tonight was a bit of a shocker to me."  
  
Dave seemed to accept that, and quickly backed off. He brushed a hand soothingly in her hair, and smiled down at her. "It'll get easier, I promise. Just stick close to me. I won't let anything happen to you." He gently squeezed her shoulder with his hand and then walked down the hallway to leave. Maybe he wasn't SUCH a bad guy. Just wanted to get laid, she figured, sliding the key into the door's lock. Not that it really helped, the door was so cheap, she could have kicked it in with very little effort on her part. She took in a deep breath and let it out in a deep sigh as she entered her room.  
  
One couldn't even really call it a hotel room. Sure, there was a bed in the corner. That was about the only thing in the room that could classify it as such. There were no other pieces of furniture in the room. The windows were bare, allowing the harsh sunlight to stream in in the day time, and the streetlight's at night. The paint on the walls were peeling in places, and she was quite sure that even the roaches wouldn't stay here. How the place had stayed open all these years was beyond her. A "historical landmark" the city called it.  
  
She sat her keys and purse on one of her suitcases and sat on the bed. Her feet were killing her! Slowly, she removed the boots she wore, and massaged her feet, trying to bring circulation back to them. Slowly it returned, and with it the tingling pain that's associated with it. She cringed and tried to take her mind off of it by thinking about the case. She laid down on the bed, on her stomach, her ankles crossed behind her. She looked out the window, deep in thought. She didn't have many potential suspects, but of the thirty two employees at the Two of Hearts, six were on her suspect's list. She mentally went through her list in her head.  
  
Her first two suspects were Christina Carter and Celina Roxx. Christina was on the A list of singers and Celina was not. The two women were twins, yet their appearances were quite different. While Christina wore her hair long and in it's natural black, Celina wore hers short and dyed brown. Many didn't not even realize that they were even sisters. Celina had a wide and varied criminal record already. Everything from solicitation to breaking and entering, to assault. Christina had a few minor violations, mostly from riding on the coattails of Celina's escapades. As for motive, Celina didn't get along with the other girls and while her sister was on the A list, she was not. Perhaps the two had taken out the girls in hopes that Celina would be promoted?  
  
Montoya's next suspect was Nelson Harrison, a bouncer at the Hearts. He had been in relationships with three of the five missing girls over the past year. He also had a history of violent tendencies, which made him perfect as a bouncer. He had a short temper, and it was rumored that many of the bar fights that occurred were actually caused by him. He antagonized the patrons and did not have a pleasant demeanor. Unfortunately, he hadn't been working tonight, so Renee hadn't been able to see him in action. She made a mental note to do so.  
  
Tamalyn was her next suspect. Her full name was Tamalyn Jones , but had dropped the surname for stage presence. She seemed nice enough with long really curly blonde hair. Montoya had talked to her at length tonight. She had worked her way up in the ranks and had just been bumped up to the A list. That was what put her on Montoya's suspect list. That and the fact that she was a black belt at Tae kwon do. She had a motive, and the means to take down all of the girls. However, her suspected actions went against Tamalyn's character, and while Montoya was taught to never take anyone at face value, she honestly found it hard to belive that the girl would kidnap and possibly kill.  
  
Then there was Eva Lourdes. She had been a singer at the club for a very short time. Now she was a waitress. Originally from Paris, Eva had an accent that she just couldn't shake, and rumor had it, it made her singing quite uncomfortable to listen to. Instead of firing the girl, Morley had kept her on as a waitress. However, that did not pay for all her bills, so on occasion, she would take back men to her apartment, to help pay the rent. She was a woman down on her luck, like so many lost souls in Gotham. She had already turned to prostitution. Could she be her suspect? Revenge was a powerful motive, especially when you feel you've been wronged.  
  
Her last suspect was Charisma Cole. She, too, had been a singer at the Two of Hearts. That was until an unfortunate bar room fight left her with a damaged larynx. She'd been unable to sing after that. Again, Morley had kept her on, even when it wasn't in his best interest to do so. She now was one of the three bartenders that the club had. Again, resentment and revenge would seem to be motives in her case. She was also a quiet and shy girl by nature, and Montoya knew to watch the quiet ones carefully. Oftentimes, they were time bombs waiting to explode.  
  
Sighing, she slid off the bed. She was no closer to solving the case than she was before the day began. She went over to one of her suitcases and pulled out a pair of sweats and a tank top. Maybe if she slept on it she would be clearer thinking in the morning. She was just about to change, when she heard the knock on the door. Setting the clothes aside, she moved to the door, cautiously.   
  
"Who is it?"  
  
"Bella? Open up! It's Tamalyn….Well, a bunch of us."  
  
Renee opened the door, curious as to why she would have guests. In front of her stood Tamalyn and three of the other Hearts girls. Lynsey Starr, Summer Rayne, and Aurianna Trine. They looked ready for a party. Tamalyn, who was obviously the leader of the group, spoke up.  
  
"Come on, get your boots. It's still early, we're having a little girl's night out. Come on, it'll be fun!"  
  
Her first thought was to say no. She didn't do "Girls night's out" or stuff like that. But then again, she conceded to herself, right now she was Isabella, and chances are she would. Besides this would give her an opportunity to learn about one of her suspects and maybe learn more about the case in general. She smiled and nodded in agreement. Quickly, she slipped the boots from Hell back onto her poor feet and grabbed her jacket, purse, and keys. Then she was out the door, ready for a night on the town. 


	3. Chapter 3

She was going to go deaf, she just knew it.  
  
The pulsing bass was so loud that Montoya could actually feel it vibrating the table. She could see the contents of the drinks shaking within their containers. Lynsey and Aurianna were out on the dance floor, having a grand time by the looks of things. They had been dancing and drinking all night. Summer and Tamalyn were seated, for the time being, with Montoya at the group's table. The three had been chatting and guarding the table from newcomers.  
  
The women were putting away a considerable amount of alcohol in a short time. Summer and Lyns were already trashed, each having at least 8 drinks apiece. Tama and Aurianna were not as eager to get toasted and were only on their 5th drink for the night. Montoya glanced at her own beer, number four for her. She was not overly concerned. She had been able to out drink her own brother on several occasions, and he had at least forty pounds on her. Still, she wanted a clear head, and decided that her fourth would be her last.  
  
"So," Summer piped up, her voice shrill. "How'd ya end up in Gotham anyways?"  
  
"I couldn't stand it in Florida any more…I got on a bus in North Port…that's where my folks are, and just kept riding until I ran out of money." Renee had a whole cover story ready and it slipped from her lips easily. She shrugged, as if actions like just hopping on a bus and taking off for parts unknown were commonplace.  
  
"Wow…I'd never have the guts to do that…. Worst thing I ever did was date a loser!"  
  
Renee shrugged and took a sip of her drink. "I was trying to make it to New York City. This is just a pit stop. A few months to get some money together and I'm outta hear."  
  
"Hey, Bell? What did you do to get hired at the Hearts, anyway?" Tamalyn entered the conversation after being quiet most of the night. She had seemed to be having a good time, yet she was noticeably distracted. She had been glancing over at a table and scowling at someone all night long. An ex-girlfriend, she had told Renee.  
  
"What did I do?" Renee looked a bit confused. She, in that instant, got the distinct impression that there were several things that Morley had neglected to tell her about. She would have to play it by ear, and have a talk with her "boss" later. "You know…the usual." She hoped that being vague would help her situation, by making it seem like she didn't want to talk about it. Lyns and Aurianna both came to sit down with a tray of shots. After sitting the glasses of red liquid down Aurianna spoke.  
  
"Come on. It's ok. We're ALL screw-ups. You can tell."  
  
"How about a shot per story," Lyns added. "Whoever finishes the drink last has to tell their deep dark story!" Renee was intrigued by this time. What kinds of things DID one have to do to get hired at the Two of Hearts? She looked warily at the red beverage in front of her.  
  
"What is it?"   
  
"A Red Headed Slut!"   
  
All the girls burst into laughter then; as if it were the funniest thing they had ever heard. Must be a private joke, Montoya thought.  
  
"What is in it?"   
  
"Jagermeister, Peach Schnapps, and cranberry juice."  
  
Great! Just what I need, to be mixing drinks while on a case. Still Montoya was confidant that she could hold out against the girls, at least long enough to concoct her own story.  
  
And so, the drinking game began.  
*****  
Four shots and twenty minutes later, Montoya had a handful of knowledge and her head was swimming. She wished it were just from the overload of information that she had processed. However, her upset stomach and headache told her otherwise. At least she felt secure in her knowledge that no matter how trashed she was getting; her companions were far more toasted than she was. They had all seemed to even forget what they had been doing, content to talk amongst themselves or outrageously flirt with passer byes. This was a good thing, for Montoya had yet to come up with a suitable story for her hiring at the Two of Hearts yet.  
  
Lyns had been the first to tell her story. She'd run with a rough gang, the Blue Devils. Being a girl in a gang like that meant that she had to be tough. She'd been busted during a gang war with the "School Boys", a preppy gang who specialized in drugs. She hadn't been actually involved in the fight, just a lookout. Still, she had gotten a month in jail for her actions that day. She had only been out a few days, and was being pressured to reenter the gang, when she had been approached to work at the two of Hearts. The Boss, who to Montoya's amazement wasn't Morley, had told her he would give her a chance to straighten her life up. She had grabbed at the chance. The stories that Summer and Aurianna told were similar in the respect that they both had made unwise choices, and were being given a second chance as it were in life.   
  
Montoya had lots to think about. She really needed to get back to her hotel room. She knew she wasn't at her peak, but had learned much, and felt it would be worth the inevitable hang over in the morning. Feigning illness from to much drinking, she excused herself from the party. The women hardly noticed she was leaving. Quickly she hailed a cab and returned to her hotel. She had to be up early in the morning to check out the club before the other employees got there and desperately needed to crash.   
  
As she slid her key in the lock for the second time that night, she noticed something…odd. The door wasn't locked.   
  
Carefully, she pushed the door open. Standing at one of the windows, was a figure, his back to her. The light from the streets only half illuminated the man's features, but it was enough for Montoya to identify him. As he turned to look at her, Two Face spoke.  
  
"Hello Renee." 


	4. Chapter 4

The keys slid from Montoya's fingers and fell to the floor. Wordlessly, she stared at the man in front of her. Her mind felt like it was wrapped in cotton, she could not think quick enough to keep up. Working hard to process the information that she had just received, in a timely manner, she took a deep breath to clear the cobwebs from her head. It worked, but to a lesser degree than she had hoped. Silently, she cursed her new "friends" and those damned shots. Still, at least now, she would be going into this unexpected confrontation with knowledge that she otherwise would have been lacking.  
  
It was obvious to her, that TwoFace was the "boss" that the girls had been talking about. The Two of Hearts was probably one of his hide outs. No wonder he had "never been seen" there. Montoya wanted to hit herself for not thinking. She had taken something that Morley said at face value and made a rookie mistake. She had assumed that he was telling the truth. Of course, TwoFace would show up at a place like the Hearts. It was in his nature to do so.   
  
Slowly, to give herself more time to clear her head, she knelt down to pick up her keys; no small feat due to her slightly intoxicated state and her barely there apparel. She had turned slightly away from Dent, so as to not flash all of her assets. Her clothing had been made to attract attention and every small move she made showed more skin than she would have preferred. After finally retrieving her errant keys, and getting back to her feet, Montoya turned to look questioningly at her intruder. Deliberately, she shut the door, for privacy. She decided that she was not going to call for back up….Not yet, anyway.  
  
"Harvey."  
  
She was not sure if she said his name as a greeting or a question. She finally decided that it had been both. Who was she talking to? Harvey Dent or TwoFace? She wasn't sure yet. She had learned that they truly were two different people. While TwoFace was a cold blooded killer, Dent was someone that, under different circumstances, Montoya would have liked to have known better.  
  
Crossing her arms, she stood watching him. He hadn't moved yet and he had an odd look on his face which was causing her to become a bit nervous. Not that she would let him know that, however. Rubbing her arms as if she were cold, she moved towards one of her suitcases, which she had stashed a gun in, just in case.  
  
"Looking for this?" The TwoFace side of his face showed his amusement as he held up her gun for her to see. He looked it over for a moment, before unloading it. "It's not your police issue. Don't you usually carry a Glock? This is a Barretta"  
  
"I was getting a sweatshirt," She spat angrily, not wanting to admit that she would have felt more secure with her gun. Visiting Dent at Arkham was one thing. Dealing with him and his alter ego on the outside, well that was something else. "Is that alright with you?"  
  
With that said, she rummaged through the case and pulled out an oversize dark green sweatshirt. Quickly, she slipped it on over her top. Instantly she felt a small bit of comfort. The added layer of clothing did nothing to protect her, but at least now she could stop wondering what he was staring at. She also grabbed a fabric ponytail holder for her hair and pulled it up loosely.   
  
"Now, may I ask, what you are doing here?"  
  
Even before he responded, she knew the answer. Good heads had come up. That would be the only reason that he would be here. She felt a wave of weariness come over her as he confirmed her suspicions.  
  
"We flipped for it. I want to help."  
  
"You didn't do it, did you?" Montoya found herself asking. She knew what her instincts were telling her, but needed to hear it from him. Dent sighed and looked away from her.. Absentmindedly, he sat on the edge of the window sill, as Montoya was preparing to sit on the bed, the only piece of furniture in the room. She flipped up her laptop, amazed at how easily she had lapsed into a comfortable silence with Dent. It was at times like this where she could almost forget who he was.   
  
"No, Renee, I didn't."  
  
"You must have freaked when Morley reported this."  
  
Dent looked up and over at her, a puzzled expression on his face  
  
"We…No! We told Morley to report this." He stood up, ready to defend himself. " We didn't figure out what was happening until a few days ago. All of the girls are from out of town, with no family here. The first two girls, well, I figured that they'd just returned home." He looked away from Montoya, again, his face showing some embarrassment now.   
  
"Then we were…away for a while. When we returned, well, you know."  
  
Away for a while? What he meant, she realized, was that he had been in Arkham. She stopped typing and looked up at him.  
  
"I have to ask…How long have you been out?"  
  
"Two nights now." He ran his hand thought his hair sheepishly.  
  
"Harvey!" She fixed him with a stern gaze.  
  
"No one got hurt. I made sure He didn't get out of line, Renee."  
  
Montoya put her head in her hands. She did NOT need this. She needed to be focused on the case, not on Dent. However, she also realized that she could not simply just have him taken back to Arkham, his absence at the club might cause questions. She spent several moments wondering how to continue. Then Dent spoke up, quietly.  
  
"I didn't know you could sing. All those months together and I never knew."  
  
"You never learned that I could sing," she spat, glaring at him, "because I had no reason to!"  
  
She was upset to be reminded of their time together during No Man's Land. She didn't like being reminded how he had taken over her family's lives for six months. How she and her family had been at his mercy. He had never hurt her though. Neither her or any of her family members.  
  
"How many times do I have to say I'm sorry?"  
  
He looked so lost and alone right then that she immediately dropped it. Truth be told, for all her bitterness, it was mainly directed at herself. She was upset that she had let him get the drop on her. She had forgiven him long ago. There was nothing that she could do to change the past, so she vowed to just accept it, and move on.  
  
"So, do you know anything that might help me, Harvey?"  
  
Montoya was not about to tell Dent, but she was starting to crash. She had been up since five that morning and it was pushing on three am, according to the clock of the laptop. She had yet to really get anything out of Dent, besides the statement that he did not take the girls. Wearily, she pulled up the case file on her computer.  
  
"Not much, I'm afraid. I do know that each of the girls went missing the day before each of them was supposed to have few days off. Morley should have all those records on the club computer, if you want to check into that."  
  
"So," Montoya thought aloud, while kicking off her boots," Whoever we're dealing with, knew the girls schedules. How many people have access to them?"  
  
"Morley, but he stores all of that in the computer. All someone would have to do is access it. Plus he posts the schedule in the break room every Thursday before the new week."  
  
"Think I can take a look at that computer tomorrow, before rehearsals?"  
Dent shrugged, and came over to the other side of the bed to sit down. While this action should have put Montoya at "High Alert" status, it did not. After practically living with the man, albeit as his prisoner, she had picked up on much of his body language. She was amazed at how quickly certain things came back to her.   
  
"I'll talk to Morley about it. We don't see that it will be a problem. Renee, may we ask you a question? Do you feel alright? You look a bit pale."  
  
"Just to much to drink with those wild party girls of yours, on top of not enough sleep. I'll live."  
  
She started to scan the case files, hoping to find something that would call out to her as a missing clue.  
  
"What can you tell me about these girls that I don't already know?"  
  
"The first girl that went missing was Tiffany Jones, age 22, from Flint, Michigan. I don't know why she came to Gotham. I found her fresh off the bus. She'd only been at the club a month when she just disappeared. She never talked about her family. She didn't associate with the other girls. She always seemed really sad when I would see her."  
  
As he was talking, Montoya started to take notes. She could not help but notice, however, that TwoFace kept leering at her while Dent was speaking. She tried to ignore it, but when his hand came to rest on her thigh, it was time to end it. She kept her tone natural and light, she did not want to provoke him.  
  
"Harv? Can you do me a favor?"   
  
"Yes?"  
  
"Can you move that for me?"  
  
She gently tapped his hand and looked over at him. Instantly, he jerked his hand away, as if it had been burned.   
  
"I'm so sorry, Renee."  
  
She was about to accept his apologies, when TwoFace decided to add his two cents to the conversation.  
  
"Dressed like that all night long, and now she blames us?"  
  
Dent was about to reply to TwoFace's comment, when Montoya's cell phone rang. She quickly ran over to her purse and dug through it until she found the phone, leaving Dent and TwoFace arguing over her apparel. She usually did not carry a purse, and felt clumsy as she dug through it. Finally feeling it with her fingers, she grabbed it and pulled it out of its confines.   
  
"Hello."  
  
"It's me. Can you talk?"   
  
It was Commissioner Gordon. Montoya looked over to where it appeared that Dent had gotten the upper hand once more. 'Sorry', he mouthed to her, looking apologetic, and settled into silence.  
  
"Yes, it's clear."  
  
"We found the bodies, Montoya…Someone was dumping them near one of the snow disposal piles on the outskirts of town. With the warm weather, they've been melting, and a passerby reported it a few hours ago. Can you come down?"  
  
They had found the girl's bodies. That meant the case had just been elevated from missing persons to murder. Montoya's shoulders stooped a bit as her weariness bit into her.  
  
"I thought Bullock was supposed to be handling that end of the case."  
  
"He had to go home…Food poisoning."  
  
Montoya did not even try to deny Gordon. She grabbed a pen and a pad of paper with one hand, the phone stuck between her ear and her shoulder as she knelt by her suitcase, rummaging through it. She pulled out a pair of jeans, socks, and sneakers. Her sweatshirt would just have to do for now.  
  
"OK, give me twenty minutes to get there."  
  
She hung up the phone and tossed it over by her jacket. Quickly, she grabbed up her clothes and went into the bathroom to change. A few minutes later, she reappeared, placing her club clothes on the foot of the bed. She felt better now that she was in her normal clothes. She felt like herself again.   
  
"I have to go. Something's come up."  
  
Montoya felt bad not telling him about the girls, but the fewer people that knew about it, the better off for her investigation. She grabbed up her leather jacket and pocketed her cell phone, then powered down her laptop and stashed it in her suitcase.  
  
"You're not going to run off on me are you?"  
  
She looked over at him sternly. He looked like a child who had just been caught with his hand in the cookie jar.   
  
"I wouldn't think of it, Renee."  
  
"Just…..stay here. I don't want to have to hunt you down, but I will."  
  
"Yes, Ma'am!"  
  
Montoya started out the door, when she realized that she did not have her car with her, and she had not called a cab. Dent looked over at her and grinned. He had already put his jacket on and a set of keys were in his hand.  
  
"Need a ride?"  
  
"No, absolutely not!" 


	5. Chapter 5

"Renee, why won't you listen to me? We only took a brand new one, because we knew it would have to be insured!"  
  
Just when did I loose all control over my own case, Montoya thought. She gripped the steering wheel of the car a little harder, in frustration. Here she was driving a stolen car, with Harvey TwoFace Dent in the passenger seat. She was going crazy, that had to be it. She did not even dare to look over at him, knowing that if she did so, her look would surely kill him.  
  
"The car goes back, Dent!"  
  
"But, it's got your fingerprints on it now, Renee."  
  
Dent seemed to have a gift for pointing out the obvious.   
  
"Let's get something straight right now. You ARE under arrest; you know that, don't you? You WILL be going back to Arkham when this case is solved. The only reason that you are still a free man right now is that it would raise to many questions if you were to disappear. You wanted to help, so deal with the consequences. Now, as I said, the car goes back!"  
  
Montoya was in no mood to listen to his excuses either. When he started to respond, she cut him off.  
  
"Just shut up, and sit there! Just…. Sit!"  
  
She had absolutely no idea how she was going to explain this to Gordon when she saw him. She supposed the best thing to do would be to tell it like it was and request that Dent be left in her care until the case was solved. Gordon had always trusted her judgment; she hoped that he would continue to do so. She firmly believed that Dent could help her on this case. He knew all the victims and the suspects.  
  
"Renee…May we ask you a question?" Dent spoke quietly, as if afraid of invoking her wrath. Gritting her teeth together, she decided against shooting him. He had been nice enough to return her gun to her, once he found out that they were on there was to a crime scene.  
  
"What?"  
  
"What happened? Where are we going?" He sounded more than a bit confused. They were driving past the outskirts of the city, into County territory. County was normally the Sheriffs Department's territory, not the GCPD's.   
  
"Their bodies were found, Harv." Montoya really did not have the extra energy for fighting him, so she simply told him what he wanted to know. "When we get there, you are to stay in the car. Is that understood? I'm going to be in enough trouble over this."  
  
Dent opened his mouth to argue, but seemed to think better of it. They drove the rest of the way in silence. Montoya pulled the car over on the tree lined street several hundred feet from where the crowd of emergency vehicles was gathering.  
  
"Good luck, Renee."  
  
Shaking her head, the detective got out of the car, and walked down towards the crime scene, cursing her luck all the way.  
  
*****************************************************************************************  
  
Hours later, Montoya was back in her room at the Gotham Arms. Gordon had a plainclothes cop drive both Dent and herself back to their respective living quarters. She had somehow managed to convince Gordon that it was in the cases best interest to leave Dent on the outside. It would be her responsibility to make sure he did not get out of line.   
  
The snow had preserved the bodies and preliminary investigations showed that cause of death was strangulation in each of the singers. Montoya was waiting confirmation from the coroner on that. All of the girls had been severely bruised all over their bodies, and had been found nude. They had lifted several tire treads from the area and she hoped to compare them to the employee's vehicles later. She needed one good solid lead, and so far they were few and far in between.  
  
Renee glanced over at her watch: it was going on seven in the morning. She would have just enough time to grab some sleep, before heading of to the Two of Hearts to do some digging, before rehearsals started. They were scheduled to start at four, so she planned on getting there at two. That would still give her six good hours of sleep, if she were to fall asleep right away.  
  
Unfortunately, sleep was not forthcoming. Too much had happened that night, and her mind would not quiet itself. There were still to many unanswered questions. Why had Morley tried to hide Dent from her? Why make it seem like it had been his idea to go to the police? Those questions were fairly easily answered. Morley had been trying to protect his benefactor. But still more questions crept into the detective's head, as she fell into a restless sleep. 


	6. Chapter 6

Early the next afternoon, Montoya crept into the club, using a key that Dent had given her the night before. The interior was dark and her footsteps echoed on the floor as she entered from the rear door. The very back of the building was the storage area, holding the alcohol and other necessities for running the bar. To her right were a series of tiny rooms that were used as dressing rooms for the singers. There were only five rooms, which meant that on any given night, someone was sharing with one other girl.  
  
Continuing down the small hall, Montoya came across the break room to the right and Morley's office on her left. Beyond that lay the kitchen and dishwashing area and then the main part of the club and stage. It was a large club, holding two hundred at its peak. Most nights it only held half of that, from what Morley had told her. Montoya looked around, knowing that somewhere in this building, was one of TwoFace's hideouts. A hideout that he was currently using.  
  
Shaking away the thought, she returned to the backstage area and entered Morley's office. Carefully, she slipped into his char, uneasy. She had been given permission to be here. Yet, she still felt somehow uninvited. Shrugging off the feeling, she powered up the PC and waited for it to load up. In the silence of the early afternoon, the sounds of the computer booting up sounded deafening to Montoya.  
  
The first thing that Montoya learned that day was that Bob Morley was not an orderly person. His desktop, both they physical one and the one on his computer, were grumbled and cluttered with all sorts of useless information. Clicking on the search button, she typed in "schedule" and waited for a hit.  
  
As she sat there, she started flipping through the stacks of papers on Bob Morley's desk. There were hundreds of song lyrics stuck between empty take-out bins. Empty checkbooks and overflowing files full of invoices and bills. Curious, she opened up one of the files. They were typical for the business; liquor store, restaurant supply, that kind of thing. Nothing was catching her eye and she was about to turn her attention back to the computer when an invoice did catch her eye.  
  
Jay's Sound Systems  
  
System Refurbish: Sanyo 3x2505 $5000  
  
Picked up 3/16 by Jay Moore  
Delivered 3/17 by Jay Moore  
  
Serviced by Jay Moore  
This normally would not have caught her eye, but her brother's girlfriend owned a karaoke bar and Montoya remembered that she had just picked up a new system for around that price. She also thought back to the previous night, when while she was singing, the system had cut out on her. Jay obviously did not to quality work. However, as she really did not see this as being relevant to her case, she was about to put it to the side. The detective in her could not though, and she found herself writing down all the pertinent information about the invoice. She also searched the invoice files and found eight more jobs that Jay did for the Two of Hearts in the last year.  
  
"Interesting," she whispered to herself, now intent on her find. She picked up the phone and dialed the number for "Jays" and let it ring. A young man picked up on the fifth ring.  
  
"Jay's Sound Systems"  
  
"Yes, I have an old Sanyo 3x2505 that just broke down. How much would that be to fix or refurbish?"  
  
"Can you hold on a few minutes, I'll have to go check."  
  
"Sure thing."  
  
Absentmindedly, she flipped through one of the many catalogues scattered on the desk as she waited. Minutes passed, and suddenly, she felt as if she were no longer alone. She lifted her eyes and saw Morley leaning against the door jam. He did not look happy. She nodded to him in greeting just as the other end of the line came back to life.  
  
"Ma'am?"  
  
"Yes?" She motioned for Morley to remain silent, just as her eyes caught sight of the new Sanyo system listed in the catalogue for $7000. Her eyes narrowed in suspicion.  
  
"That system is REAL old, we can re-furb it for you for $3000, but your best bet would be to shell out the extra for the new G90. For the price it's tons better and comes with a warranty."  
  
"I see. Thank you. I'll think about it."  
  
She hung up the phone and turned to Morley as he spoke.  
  
"What are you doing in here?"  
  
She ignored the question and dismissed it with a wave of her hand.   
  
"Your getting ripped off." She held up the invoices, then the catalogue she had just been reading. "And, more than that, you know you're getting screwed. Why?"  
  
The detective waited for a few moments for an answer. When none was forthcoming, she continued.  
  
"We can do this the easy way, or the hard way. The easy way involves you telling me what is really going on around here, Bob. The hard way? I go and get your boss, which you neglected to tell me about. Have you ever heard of obstruction of justice? Or how about harboring a fugitive? I highly doubt that TwoFace is the kind of guy who will take your skimming of profits easily. So, why don't you shut the door and we can chat."  
  
To his credit, Morley did as he was told and entered the office and shut the door quietly behind him. He started to pace nervously, obviously agitated.  
  
"I'm waiting, Morley. Don't waste my time."  
  
He looked over at her and glared daggers with his eyes. She met his gaze with her own unwavering. They stayed like this for several long moments, before Morley finally backed down. Sighing, he cast his eyes away.  
  
"What do you want to know?"  
  
"Lets start with this," she gestured to the papers in her hand. "Then we can move on to other topics."  
  
"Jay and I go way back. Ran with the came crowd, you know. Well, he came up with the idea. Split the extra 50/50 and no one would be the wiser. I mean come on, what was he going to do, go to the cops?"  
  
Montoya hated stupid thieves.  
  
"Actually, yes, he could. As much as it boggles the mind, you can be a felon, a criminally insane one at that, and still own property. As long as it's legit and taxes are paid. Check the law books, Morley…. Hell, haven't you ever heard of the Iceberg Lounge?"  
  
Morley pales at this new information, then sat down in an extra chair and held his head in his hands, groaning.  
  
"Damn my luck!"  
  
"It appears to me that you've created your own bad luck. Now, what I want to know is are you just a thief, of should I put you on the suspect list for murder, too?"  
  
Bob looked up at that, a shocked expression on his face.  
  
"M…Murder? I thought…" He lapsed into stunned silence, standing up and went over to a picture on the wall. A picture of him and a pretty blonde girl. "So, they aren't coming back, then?"  
  
Montoya hated being the one to give news like this. She never knew what to say. Still, something tugged at the back of her mind. She could not place it, but it would come to her.   
  
"You are going to find who's doing this, right?"  
  
Morley had taken the picture down, and was holding it in his hands. Quite the shaken employer. Suddenly, one of last night's thoughts returned to her. Her caution to herself about trusting Morley. He had lied to her once; she would not rule him out as a suspect. She would have to be more careful this time.  
  
"You bet I'm going to catch the bastard. I was just going to check the girls' schedules out. I wanted to see if there was any sort of pattern that the schedules might help me out with. Since you are here now, why don't you grab me that info?"  
  
Montoya slid out of the chair and stood to the side, motioning for Morley to take the chair. He did so, albeit a bit reluctantly. Quickly, he pulled up the schedule databases and printed them of for her in silence.  
  
"There you go, anything else," he asked her, obviously irritated. He handed her the printouts.  
  
"Just one question. Why did you wait until he made you, to report this?"  
  
He looked at her, his expression one of annoyance and anger. It appeared, for a time, that he was not going to answer her. She decided he needed a bit of persuasion to aid him.  
  
"You know what you did…. It's called fraud? You know that fraud is a felony, right? I think you should be cooperative, Bob."  
  
That, she noticed, got him talking right away.  
  
"I honestly thought that the girls had just picked up their roots and left. It's not so strange, not in this city. Gotham had bad memories for them all."  
  
You didn't notice the pattern to the disappearances?"  
  
"Look, lady! I'm busy making sure the girls know their sons, that they look good. I need to make sure the booze keeps flowing and the customers are happy. Do you have any comprehension as to how many 'crises' these divas have a night? YOU keep track. The girls come and go. That's just how it is around here."  
  
"You ever hook up with any of your girls? Try to get a little something on the side, maybe?"  
  
"No…I mean, I have dated several of the women, but I don't use them." He shrugged for emphasis. " You date who you know. I'm sure you date other cops or something. I date my singers."  
  
Morley's comment left the detective peeved. She took a deep breath and pushed his comment to the side. There was no sense in getting upset at his comment  
  
"My love life isn't in question here. Yours is. Did you sleep with any of the missing women?"  
  
"Just…Just one of them." He was lying. Montoya could spot a junkie any day just by looking at him. It was the same when she was with a liar. "Nicki Balint. She was the second to go missing. She's from Dayton originally. Had a brother in Gotham, but the Feds busted him for something. Then she was on her own. We connected."  
  
Morley held up the picture that he had taken down earlier and handed it to Montoya.  
  
"It was taken three days before she vanished."  
  
Carefully, she scrutinized the picture for clues. The blonde woman had a mid calf green silk dress on and Morley was in a suit.  
  
"It was our one month anniversary. Dating. You know how you women are. I took her out for a night on the town. She really enjoyed herself. It was the best night of our lives."  
  
As he reminisced, she continued to examine the picture. She thought that she could just make bruising under the bangle bracelets that Nicki had worn on both arms. Bruises like she had been held or tied up. She wanted to take the picture to the CSI lab and have an expert look it over for her. She checked her watch and found that she still had over an hour before rehearsals would begin.  
  
"Would you mind if I took this with me?"  
  
Morley nodded in agreement and Montoya thanked him for his help. Gathering her things, she noticed a pensive look upon the man's face. She firmly believed that he knew more than he was telling her. She would think more on how to move forward with that after she got the picture to CSI. She wanted to know if the bruising on Nicki was consistent with any of the bruises on the victims. She knew there was going to be a long day's work ahead. 


	7. Chapter 7

Montoya watched, with just the slightest hint of a grin on her face, as Bullock interviewed one of the girls. He was not having an easy time of it, from what she could tell. Rehearsals has just started when he came in for the 'official' investigation. She hoped that he could get something of value from the employees. After speaking to him earlier via her cell phone, she knew that he was up to speed with everything that she knew so far.   
  
When the bodies of the missing women had been found, they all realized that having her on the inside was not going to be enough. Now, with solid proof of foul play, they were free to investigate from both outside and in.   
  
Just then, Morley came over to where she had been sitting and handed her a stack of papers. Taking them, she saw that they were lyrics to various songs, most of which she already knew.   
  
"You're up next, Belle." He started to walk away, then turned back around to face her, eyeing her up and down. He continued, loud enough for everyone in the room to hear, "Oh, by the way. You might want to think about dropping at least ten pounds if you want to make it around here, love. Also, do something with your hair. There is a salon right down the road. You could use some spicing up!"  
  
Montoya sat there in stunned silence as Morley walked away. Her cheeks flushed red despite her best efforts to remain calm. She had not been told that she needed to loose weight since middle school, and had taken pride in the fact that she usually worked out every morning, current situation excluded. She was torn between feeling anger, embarrassment and a small bit of self-doubt, even though she knew it was foolish.  
  
"Hey! Leave the girl alone. She looks fine to me!" Bullock and his big mouth. Montoya put her head in her hands and wanted to crawl in a hole. Undercover or not, it seemed that Bullock was not about to let anyone berate his partner.  
  
"You work her, Detective?" Morley got into the larger man's face. "Didn't think so. How about you do your job and I'll do mine!"  
  
Renee was about to get up and go die of embarrassment when Summer sat down next to her. She looked like Hell. Obviously, she was not over last night's drinking binge yet.   
  
"Don't worry. Bob can get like this. It's the control freak in him. Just wants us all to be the best we can. The cop's not helping either. Makes him nervous…makes us all nervous, I think. Can you belive? All those girls are dead?" Summer's eyes were wide as she leaned in and confided to the undercover detective. "I'm kinda freaked. I'm the only girl here, besides you, who's not from Gotham. I'm afraid I could be next. But Morley, he says he'll protect me."  
  
Montoya did not think that Morley could protect himself, let alone another person. However, she kept her mouth shut about her opinions. It was obvious that, despite his rough demeanor, Summer liked the man. She decided to offer up a bit of advice to the girl.  
  
"Maybe you should take some self-defense classes. They might make you feel safer."  
  
"I…I don't think so. I don't have the time." Summer's eyes drifted away, downcast. "I'm sort of in a relationship right now."  
  
Montoya bit her lower lip in concern. She had seen the look on Summer's face a thousand times over, if she had seen it once. It was the look of a woman in a bad relationship. She was torn between being a cop and doing her job, or trying to be a friend to this girl who seemed to need a good one. Then she thought of a way where she might be able to do both.  
  
"Well…if you want, I could teach you a thing or two. I took some classes down in Florida and could show you some moves. Just tell your boyfriend that you are with a girl from work. Come to my place before rehearsals tomorrow. I think the floor should hold."  
  
Summer looked back over at Montoya and smiled softly at Renee's attempt at humor.  
  
"Maybe. We'll see. Thank you for the offer. Well you should start looking over your stuff and I have to go get my roots touched up before work. See you around?"  
  
Summer got up to leave, and Montoya glanced over her songs for the night. She had seen the vindictive look in Morley's eye when he handed her the music, and swore that Morley was giving her songs that he didn't think she knew. She flipped through the sheets of Avril Lavigne, Pink, No Doubt and TATU. TATU?!?! Not the typical songs for the young detective to sing, however, her musical tastes were wide and varied and she had all of the artists CD's at home. Out of the twelve songs, she would only have to learn two of the song lyrics, and those she at least knew how the songs were to go.   
  
Morley giving her such a hard time puzzled her, but if this was the way he treated all the girls, so be it. If he thought he could rile her with a few snide comments, he had another thing coming. She brushed off his earlier comments about her weight and held her head a bit higher. He was on borrowed time, she reminded herself. She was going to put him away when this was all done for embezzling the club's money.  
  
***  
  
An hour later, she was seated back in Morley's office. Things were not going well. She had managed to convince TwoFace not to kill Morley, when she informed him of the manager stealing funds. Still, he was not a happy man. Neither was Dent for that matter. While TwoFace merely wanted to kill Morley, Dent was torn between anger and hurt. They had not been willing to listen to her, and were ready to go after him when Montoya had put her foot down. She had used the only card she had to deal. The "you wanted this solved, now let me do this my way" card.  
  
Dent had been reluctant, but she had reminded him that they had flipped for it, and now they had to deal with the consequences. This was just a distraction. They had had this conversation once before, back in No Man's Land, so it was not that hard to convince Dent to go with her on this. She had told him that she would handle it personally once the case was closed.   
  
It had been about then, when thy heard someone approaching, about to enter the office. Montoya was not sure which one had decided to be the opportunist, but she suddenly found herself locked in his arms, in a close embrace. He had just leaned down to kiss her, when Celine opened the door.  
  
"Oh! Sorry, I need to get…" Her eyes darted around until she spotted a large duffle bag. "Chris is loaning me some clothes…well, at least we all know how you got the job now, Belle!"  
  
With that said, she grabbed the bag and quickly left the room. Montoya pushed at the wall of his chest the moment the door had closed, but he did not budge. Glaring, she looked up at him. Part of him looked pensive and nervous, the other half looked happy…well cocky was more like it.  
  
"Thank you SO much!" She pushed at him again, yet he still refused to relinquish his hold on her. Her words trailed off as a grin spread on Dent's face for a brief moment, before he wiped it away. Abruptly, he let go. Montoya, for the life of her, could not figure out why she felt disappointed.  
  
"Sorry, you needed a good 'why I got hired' story. Now you have one. You're with us."  
  
"Thank you so much for deciding for me!"  
  
"You should be happy. I didn't even flip for it. I'll have your things gathered and taken to my place. I'll be back to pick you up after work, Belle."  
  
Before she could respond, he had quickly exited the room, leaving her in stunned silence. Somehow she had been played and she was still no close to solving the case than she had been from the beginning. 


	8. Chapter 8

Montoya stood on stage, next to Eva, smiling at the crowd. She did not know if they had really liked the way that the two had sung the popular TATU song, or the fact that the male populated, testosterone driven crowd had merely liked what the song had implied. She would have gone with the later, if she had bet on it. She noticed the plainclothes officer in the crowd that the GCPD had placed there for added support and her protection. He could not keep a straight face, and was grinning.  
  
~Great, like there aren't ENOUGH rumors about me~ Montoya thought to herself as she took her final bow. She knew that some of her fellow co-workers talked about her, and her lack of a social or love life. It really was not that she was not interested in men; She just had not found that special someone who made it feel right. So, she spent her nights working on cases. Was that a crime?  
  
Shaking off the morose feeling that was slowly creeping into her heart, she carefully exited the stage, leaving Eva to her show. The diva's husky voice screamed through the sound system as it shorted again. Montoya had to grit her teeth to keep herself from covering her ears. She would never work under these conditions, she thought to herself. However, these girls did not have much of a choice. It was still better than the streets.   
  
She headed for the break room, her throat on fire. She would never admit it to anyone, but knew if she had to keep this up for many more days, she would surely loose her voice. Renee simply did not have the vocal stamina that the other singers did. The most vocal thing she usually did in a day was to interrogate suspects.  
Or yell, "FREEZE, GCPD!"   
  
Montoya smiled at Christina and a singer she had not met yet, who were already in the break room. She knew her to be Kay, from the briefing she had on the girls. When she entered, the women had been chatting and did not bother to stop when she entered. Luckily for her secrets seemed to be scarce around here. As she went for her purse for coffee money, she listened into the women's conversation.  
  
"I don't know what she sees in him," Christina piped up. Renee dug through her purse, looking for loose change.  
  
"Are you SURE they're together? I mean, what about Nicki?" Kay busied herself by perfecting her fingernails' form while she talked.  
  
Christina shrugged.   
  
" I guess he's over her. He kinda has to be now doesn't he? Still, he's nothing but a horny dog. He'd nail every girl in here, if we let him, but you can't tell her that."  
  
"Yeah, Summer's so in love with him. He can't do any wrong." Kay looked up from her nails and over at Montoya. "What do you think Belle?"  
  
By this time, She had gotten her money out and had been trying to work the coffee machine, which, of course, had eaten her money.  
  
"Pardon?" She turned to look at her companions. "I'm sorry, I wasn't listening. What do I think of who?"  
  
Chris rolled her eyes and got up from the chair she had been sitting in. She moved over to the machine and hit it squarely, just below the money feed. As if duly chastised, the machine whirled to life. Then she turned to Montoya and spoke.  
  
"Who cares what she thinks about that…. I want to know about you and TwoFace. What are you doing, sleeping with him? Don't look so shocked. Celina told me. She said you two looked QUITE cozy earlier, so there is no sense denying it, Belle."  
  
"Belle? You and TwoFace?" Kay put down her nail file. "Chris, you've got to be shitting me!"  
  
~DAMN YOU HARVEY~  
  
"Nope, Celina caught them in Morley's office earlier. So, come on. Talk to us girl!" Christina grabbed Montoya's cup of coffee with one hand and grabbed Renee by the arm with her other, and dragged her to the small table the women had been sitting at. Renee pondered the question for a moment or two. While, to her surprise and great concern, there were quite a few reasons that she might like Harvey, she could come up with no reason why her cover would hook up with TwoFace.   
  
"It just happened," she replied, hoping her ambiguous answer would fly with the two ladies. As she looked from the one to the other, she saw that it was not. She gently blew on her steaming coffee and took a drink, trying to come up with a plausible story. She could not. "I'd rather not talk about it, ok?"  
  
Chris shook her head in refusal.  
  
"No way. You are NOT getting out of this that easy. Talk!"  
  
"Well…I suppose when we first met," Renee thought back to their first meeting right after the quake. She had thought him to be a monster, and yet, he had proven her wrong. "I saw a part of him that made me want to give him a chance." She was pleased with herself. She had given a plausible, and true account of her feelings for Dent while managing to maintain her cover.   
  
"Well, I'd be careful if I were you." Kay leaned in conspiratorially. "I heard that he really has the hots for some cop. It was in the papers and everything."  
  
Inwardly, Montoya bristled. Damn the Gotham Post and the stories that they published. Shortly after Dent had sent her tulips for her birthday last year, the Post had come out with a story about a secret affair they were supposedly having. Now, she and most everyone she knew took this for the garbage that it was. Obviously, there were those who took the Posts trash serious. Her main concern was how much Kay knew about her from the article.  
  
"Really? I hadn't heard. Who is she?" She tried to sound jealous for her cover's sake.  
  
"Some 'High and Mighty' up at the GCPD," Kay shrugged. "I don't really remember. They didn't have any pictures or anything. Just a story. I think she was a detective, but don't quote me on that."  
  
"I'll have to keep that in mind." Renee found it rather odd talking about herself, disconcerting. What was even worse was knowing that people were still talking and speculating about her and Dent. She was about to ask the ladies more about Summer and her boyfriend, when Morley walked into the break room.  
  
"Your ride's here, Bella. You can go. Be sure to get here on time tomorrow."  
  
Montoya's heart leapt to her throat. She hated not being in control of a situation. It seemed that every time that she tried to rein in, she ended up further behind than before. The case kept throwing her more loops than she was accustomed to, even for Gotham. She needed time. Time to really research what was happening. She also wanted a closer look at Morley's computer. She knew she could access it from her laptop, since she had jotted down the computer's ISP earlier.  
  
What she needed was some peace and quiet.  
  
"You don't want to keep him waiting, do ya?"  
  
Morley's gruff voice brought her back out of her thoughts. The women were watching her expectantly. Montoya realized that she was not acting like a woman who was heading out to meet her guy. Dragging her feet the way she was, it looked like she were on her way to her death. Mentally kicking herself, she smiled and gathered her things, mumbling something about how sweet it was for him to have a car sent for her. Luckily, Kay and Christina looked at her with sympathy.  
  
"Don't worry, maybe you can make him forget about her," was Kay's optimistic advise. Montoya sighed in relief. They thought she was upset over "the other woman" in TwoFace's life. She had to smile in amusement. If she removed herself from the situation, it really was funny.   
  
"Thanks, I'll do my best. See you all tomorrow." With that said, she gathered her coat and purse, and with her pulse racing, followed Morley to the front of the building. Before exiting, he gently took her arm and pulled her aside.  
  
"You be careful. You know more about him than any of us. You know what he's capable of. I hope you can find what you're looking for while you're there tonight. I know how taken he is with you. Just don't let your guard down."  
  
Montoya stared long and hard at Morley. The way he said what he had just said… If she had not known that TwoFace had been at Arkham during the last murder, she could have sworn that Morley was fingering Dent for the murders. Silently, she screamed. What if Dent did know more about the murders than he let on?  
  
Renee stopped that line of thinking in its tracks. She trusted her intuition, and it told her that Dent and TwoFace were not involved. Nodding her thanks at Morley, she hopped into the waiting car. She had seen Dent in the driver's seat before she opened the door, so she knew that he was driving. Not bothering to acknowledge him, she buckled up and stared out the side window. She was not going to hide her annoyance at being manipulated.  
  
"Something wrong?"  
  
Montoya opened her mouth to answer, but quickly snapped it shut again. It took far to much energy to fight him, and she had another long night ahead of her. She shook her head and leaned back in her seat, trying to find a few moments rest before reaching their destination, wherever that was. She closed her eyes, just for a moment to rest them. She could not afford to fall asleep.  
  
****  
  
It was a nice dream. Usually when she dreamed she was cold and alone, with shadows chasing her. This dream was different. Strong, warm arms surrounded her, carried her, and for the first time in a long while, she felt safe and protected. She buried her head into the warmth, clinging to the dream. Part of her knew she would need to wake up soon, but for now, for that brief moment, she allowed herself the illusionary luxury of comfort and security.  
  
***  
  
Montoya awoke slowly, yet she kept her eyes closed, trying to get her bearings. She could feel that she was in a bed, yet it was not hers nor the one from her room at the Gotham Arms. She was covered with a warm blanket and she noticed while her shoes had been removed, she was otherwise fully clothed. Renee could hear someone moving about in another room close by.   
  
She opened her eyes. The room was unlit, yet light filtered in from the slightly opened doorway. Curious and confused, she looked around. She was in a hotel room. Nothing fancy, yet not a dive like the Gotham Arms. More than likely, it was a Marriott or a Holiday Inn. Sitting up, she notice her suitcases set carefully on top of the dresser and several of her club outfits hung up in the closet. The curtains were shut tightly, keeping the harsh city lights from entering the room.  
  
Quietly, she swung her feet from the bed, her mind still processing information. On the nightstand lay her gun and detective's badge that she had hidden under her bed at the Arms hotel. Hesitantly, she picked up her gun, and checked its clip. It was still loaded. Montoya set the gun back down where it had been lying and rubbed the sleep from her eyes. She glanced over at the alarm clock and saw that it was half past two in the morning. The irony was not lost on her. However, they had left the club around midnight and she was shocked and more than a bit alarmed that she had slept so soundly, for so long.   
  
She was about to get up when she heard voices coming from the other room. Inwardly she cringed, as she recognized the voices to be that of Dent and TwoFace. Montoya knew Dent better than most, yet she still had yet to see a full-blown TwoFace incident for herself. Dent always seemed to restrain TwoFace around her. This was the first time she ever had really heard them talking to each other, besides the occasional snide comment from TwoFace.  
  
Why don't you just shut up you sniveling fool? If you don't have the balls to take what you want, I say we just get rid of her! She's just going to cause us trouble later.  
  
"No! We flipped, good heads came up, so stay out of it!"  
  
You cheated; good heads is coming up way too much lately!  
  
Montoya put her hands over her ears and closed her eyes tight, as if by doing that she could block out the sounds of Dent arguing with himself. Unfortunately, she could still hear him…them, going at it in the other room. Cursing silently to herself she let her hands drop back to her sides as she continued to listen.  
  
"I did NOT cheat. Bad heads came up not three days ago…it was YOUR idea to break out of Arkham, remember?"  
  
Damn bastard doctors! Try to give US pills to make ME go away! I'm stronger, you booty whipped pansy! That's what you are…. You're blinded by booty. Now either go in there and grab a piece of that tail, or let me get rid of her!  
  
Pills? To make TwoFace go away? This was news to Montoya, but if she wanted to live to learn more about it, she would have to get Dent calmed down, and quickly. He had obviously worked himself up rather good over something, and was going to take it out on her. She glanced at her gun longingly, wanting to take it with her for protection. However, she knew that it would only serve to further provoke an already unstable man. Taking a deep breath to help bolster her courage, she quietly stood up and crept to the door.  
  
"I will do NO such thing. I want her to like us, not fear us! You're not helping!"  
  
Renee took another shaky breath as TwoFace laughed and continued to berate Dent. Then, with a strength she did not know she possessed, she quietly opened the door further and peered into the small living area. Dent whirled around as the door opened, his mouth agape. His coin was in hand, ready for a toss. Her heart hammered in her chest as she entered the small room. ~Just act normal~ She thought to herself before speaking.  
  
"Thanks for letting me take that nap. I slept like a baby!" She pushed her hair from her face and spied her laptop plugged into the wall. She got an idea. " I need to get back to work. You wanted to help, right?"  
  
He looked at her, puzzled. She could almost read the disbelief on his face. Slowly, he turned the coin over in his hand several times. Not waiting for an answer, she walked up to him and cautiously took his hand, the one with the coin, and led him over to the small desk that was provided. She pulled up a chair and motioned him to do likewise. As they sat, she stared into his eyes, and slowly slid the coin from his hand into hers.  
  
"It's just a distraction, right?"  
  
A faint flicker of light shone in Harvey's eyes as he relinquished his grip on the coin. Renee slid it into the pocket of her skirt promising to return it after the case was solved. He seemed satisfied with this, more relaxed now that he had been reminded of his earlier toss. Montoya knew she had some sort of connection with him, and it was at times like this it was worth it.   
  
She smiled reassuringly at him and gently squeezed his hand for comfort. Even though he had just threatened to kill her, she found herself forgiving him. They would get through this…somehow. He looked up at her, a tiny glimmer of hope in his eyes.  
  
"So, what do you want me to do?"  
  
*****************************************************************************************  
  
OK this was by far my longest chapter yet, and there was more I wanted to add to it. Alas, it will have to wait 'til chapter 9. Thanks to Chris Dee for letting me borrow the Gotham Post from her Cattails. 


	9. Chapter 9

"So, what do you want me to do?"  
  
Montoya stared into Dent's eyes, not wanting to see the glimmer of hope that shone there fade away. Slowly, she removed her hand from his, giving him one last reassuring smile before getting to work. She scooted her chair closer to the desk and motioned for him to pull one up as well. As he did, she powered up the laptop.  
  
"Well, for now I just want you to see if anything off catches your eye, ok. I'm going to be accessing Morley's work computer. When I was on it earlier today, I noticed that he had deleted some things with in the past few days. I want to know what he's hiding…besides the whole fraud thing."  
  
"Do you think he's our man?"  
  
"I don't know. All I have working for me is speculation and intuition. I will say, something's not right with him." Montoya stretched and brought her left hand up to her neck, massaging the tense muscles there. With her right, she began typing, trying to gain access to Morley's computer via the Internet. Pausing, she turned her torso from one side to the other, causing her back to crack and she winced.  
  
"You alright there, Renee?"  
  
"I'm fine, just a little sore. Those beds at the Arms aren't very nice!"  
  
"No, I don't belive that they would be."  
  
Montoya frowned, her brows kitting together. She was having problems and hacking was not her forte.  
  
"Can you do me a favor? In my smaller suitcase, there is a blue notebook. Could you bring it here please?"  
  
Quietly, he nodded and left the room. Renee took this time to dial her unlisted phone number. While it was ringing, she put her hair up in a loose bun, held in place by a hotel pen, and then grabbed the complimentarily notepad and another pen to take notes. Once the machine picked up, she punched in a code and waited while the tape rewound. Dent re-entered the room and set the aforementioned notebook on the desk as the first message sounded.  
  
*BEEP* Renee? It's Benny…Just wanted to warn you. Pops is on the proverbial warpath…again. Later! *BEEP*  
  
~Great~ she thought, doodling idly on the pad, but did look up and smile her thanks to Harvey.  
  
*BEEP* Hello, Gotham area single…we are Gotham's premier Internet Dating…  
  
Montoya jabbed the number three button to fast forward. She didn't know how these people still got her number!  
  
*Beep* Renee? It's Momma. I just called to warn you, your father is on one of his rants. He started in on Benny and Alahna earlier. Hope your case goes well. Love you, sweetie. *BEEP*  
  
"I wonder what's got Poppa so upset," She whispered to herself. She usually was only warned when her father was about to start in on her for being "an old maid" and of course the whole "being a cop" thing. She wrote down on the pad;  
  
-Find out what's eating Poppa  
  
*Beep* This in Northwest Credit Union. Your application for a first time homebuyer has been approved. Your credit limit is $120,000 for your home. Happy hunting! *Beep*  
  
Montoya smiled faintly, and jotted down the dollar amount. The cost of her rent was going up again and merely out of curiosity she had applied. She looked up, aware that Harvey was not right there. She spied him by the small coffee pot working on two cups of coffee.  
  
*Beep* Renee Isabella Montoya… It's your Poppa. You call me, you hear? As soon as you get home! *BEEP*  
  
*BEEP* Montoya? It's Bullock. Why the HELL aren't you answering your cell phone? Where the heck are you? Call me! *BEEP*  
  
Renee looked around for her purse, but could not spot it from where she was. The battery must have drained out on her. She would have to check later. Montoya jumped slightly as a mug of steaming coffee appeared in front of her. She looked up and took the cup, gratefully.  
  
*BEEP* Montoya, it's Gordon. Can you lease check in. Bullock's driving me crazy. You know the rules. Fill us in. *BEEP*  
  
~Oops!~ She blew on the coffee and winced. The last time she had gone undercover with out any way for them to trace her, she had been kidnapped and nearly killed. No wonder they were worried. She made a note on the pad.  
  
- Call Bullock  
  
She paused for a moment, the wrote down  
  
-Call Dad; find out what's eating him!  
  
* BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP*  
  
Montoya hung up the phone and sipped her coffee. She was surprised that it was just the way she liked it, no cream and just a hint of sweetener. She did not even want to know how he knew that bit of information and wondered for a moment how she could feel so comfortable around a man who could be considered a stalker to her. She put it off to one of life's great mysteries and took another sip of her coffee before returning her attention to the computer screen.   
  
She opened the notebook, which she had jokingly labeled " the Dummies Guide to Hacking…For Police Officers". Montoya had taken a class a few years ago on data retrieval, amongst other things, and had kept the notes for reference. She skimmed the first few pages until she found what she had been looking for. Dent, for his part, remained standing behind her, watching and waiting. Soon, with the help of her notes, she was in the club's computer.  
  
"Thank God for DSL," She mumbled. Then she spoke up, to her companion. "Where's my purse?"  
  
"I'll get it. Hold on."  
  
For a moment Montoya found it strangely amusing. The infamous TwoFace and former DA Harvey Dent playing errand boy for her. At the same time it was very depressing. Sighing, she took her purse from him, and pulled out her cell phone, and the schedules Morley had printed off for her earlier in the day, and sat them on the desk. There was an awkward silence, which she tried to fill.  
  
"Um…thank you for letting me sleep."  
  
"You looked so tired that I wasn't about to wake you."  
  
She sat there looking at him. Something unseen past between them, her eyes locked to his. Gently, he brushed aside a strand of hair that had fallen from her bun, and into her face. Then he spoke, breaking the spell upon them.  
  
"Let's get back to work, shall we?"  
  
Montoya tore her eyes from his and blushed. She had no idea what had just happened there and was alarmed even more by her reaction to her confusion. She was not some simpering schoolgirl who blushed over a few stolen glances. She was a grown woman who was well aware of how the world worked. Clearing her throat, she looked back to her laptop, where it belonged. She had lots to do tonight and it was fading fast.   
  
She started to type, trying to ignore the man, who had moved behind her, to watch what she was doing. She tensed when he lightly placed his hands on her shoulders.  
  
"Do you mind," she asked, flipping through her notebook, trying to remember how to recover deleted data. He was making her nervous and was distracting her.  
  
"Jeez, Renee, you're too tense!"  
  
I wonder why? She muttered in Spanish, momentarily forgetting that he spoke the language. He must have understood, for he started to remove his hands, then stopped. Montoya decided to go forward with her previous plan, which was to ignore him and get to work. After all he was not hurting her…  
  
"OW!" Renee jerked with pain, when Harvey started to gently massage her shoulders. Turning, she glared at him, but he would not relent.  
  
"You don't take care of yourself, Renee. When's the last time you treated yourself to a good massage somewhere?"  
  
~Never~ she thought to herself. She did not answer him and tried to shrug his hand off of her, but he had all the leverage. Swearing under her breath, she swung out with her right elbow. She missed.  
  
"Stop!" Dent knelt down beside her and gently took her chin in hand and turned her to look at him. Their eyes met momentarily, before Montoya looked away. ~What the Hell is he up to?~ she thought to herself.  
  
"Look at you, Renee. You are so tense and uptight. You NEED to relax. You're not doing yourself any favors. All work and no play…"  
  
His voice trailed off as he continued to star into her eyes. While Montoya knew his words to be wise, she simply was not the type to cut loose. In small gatherings of close friends or family, she did loosen up a bit. However, around people she did not know well and at work, she was all business, and quite happy with the image she portrayed. Still, she admitted to herself, it was nice to see that someone cared about her well being.  
  
Renee was startled out of her thoughts by the brush of his lips against hers. She started to pull away, yet he held her in place. One hand held her at the back of her neck, gently keeping her next to him. The kiss was one sided at first. Then some small part of her, the part of her that was lonely and tired of being that way, overruled her common sense.  
  
Timidly, she kissed Harvey back. He must have been prepared for any reaction from her but that one, for he quickly back peddled and stared at her in confusion. A confusion that was mirrored in her eyes. Montoya prided herself as a woman who was in control. A control she seemed to be seriously lacking, at the moment.  
  
A flood of thoughts entered her mind and she had to turn away from him, desperately fighting for the control she had worked so hard to obtain.  
  
"I…we need to get back to work."  
  
She would not look at him. It was not just the fact that he was TwoFace, although she was sure that that did have something to do with it. The main reason she was so upset was that she had been weak and so what did she do? She threw herself at the first man who had taken an interest.   
  
"Renee, look at me, please?"  
  
She shook her head and started typing again. Work was her solace. Her retreat from her lonely life. She had spent so much energy convincing herself that she did not need anyone in her life, that it was full without the bothersome nuisance of a relationship. Now, with one small kiss, all of her hard work was crumbling apart. Montoya knew it was cruel, but she ignored Dent and focused her mind back on her laptop. After a minute or two, he seemed to realize that she simply was going to ignore him and the kiss that they had shared.  
  
He got up then and left the room, not into the bedroom, but out the door. Renee's eyes stayed glued to the monitor the whole time, yet she found herself following his reflection on the screen. Only once she was alone did she allow herself to react, putting her head in her hands and covering her face.  
  
"What am I going to do?" She pondered, into the silence of the empty room. Montoya did not allow herself to brood for more than a few minutes, however. She had too much to do to allow herself the luxury of moping. Pushing her chair out from the desk, she took the time to change out of her club apparel. She slipped on a pair of faded jeans, which she slipped TwoFace's coin into the pocket, and a ribbed black turtleneck. Then she removed the makeshift bun from her hair and put it up into a proper ponytail. Feeling more like her old self, she returned to the front room.  
  
She grabbed her cup of coffee and refilled it before sitting back down at her laptop. Montoya then started typing away, tying to recover the deleted data. She was irritated at herself, fumbling around the way she was. As she was typing, something caught her eye. Curious, she clicked on the icon, one she has not noticed earlier.   
  
It appeared to be a journal. Her mouth went dry as she skimmed its contents. There was a bookmark for commercial property, currently unused, and in an unsavory part of town. Unusual to be certain but not criminal. Only when she continued to read did she get nervous. Morley talked in great length about the pleasure he had taken with each of the girls, and how his only regret would be that he had to set someone up to take the fall, that someone else would get the credit for his fun.   
  
That someone, as she continued to read, appeared to be TwoFace, and she was to be his final victim. Who would even question it, he had written. The authorities would simply round up TwoFace and put him back in Arkham, again, and Morley would be free to move on. ~That's where the money must come in, so he could relocate~ she thought to herself.  
  
"Well if he thinks that I'm going to be that easy to take down…." She let the thought trail away, as the list of deleted files finally appeared on screen. She had no idea why he would have forgotten to delete the journal, but it was a nice break for her. She set that aside and clicked on this week's schedule, which she noticed, he had also deleted. As it loaded up, she pulled her physical copy from the stack that Morley had printed off for her.  
  
"That's not right," She whispered, looking from the computer to the paper. The copy said that Summer was supposed to work the next three days straight, and the laptop said that she was off. Montoya felt a growing sense of dread building with in her. She went back to the list of deleted files, just as she heard the door unlock and open. She barley spared a glance; just long enough to acknowledge that it was Dent. On a hunch, she picked up the phone and dialed Morley's home phone. She let it ring until it disconnected. Her bad feeling was getting worse.  
  
"Well, I see that Detective Montoya is back," Dent spat our, obviously in a foul mood. She assumed it was from her earlier actions, or lack there of, as the case may be.  
  
"Yeah," came her absentminded reply, as her attention was focused on the screen. She picked up the phone again, this time to call Bullock. As she waited for him to pick up, she opened one of several JPGS that she had come across.  
  
"Oh, shit!"   
  
The image on the screen was disturbing, to say the least. Hesitantly, she clicked open several of the other JPGS only to reveal the same kind of image. All of the pictures revealed one of the dead young women, in various stages of being tied up, beaten, and ultimately killed. The phone receiver slid from her hand, as she stared at the pictures, but then she closed her eyes against the brutality and the spell was broken. She picked up the dropped phone just in time to hear  
  
"You know the drill…" *BEEP*  
  
"Bullock? It's Montoya. Pick up." She paused a moment waiting for him, before continuing. "Damn it. Meet me at," She glanced at the address of the vacant property. "379 East lawn, ASAP. It's about the case!"  
  
Renee hung up the phone and brushed past Dent, who was now staring at the screen. Making her way into the bedroom, she quickly clipped her badge to the waistband of her jeans and put on her holster and retrieved her Berretta from the nightstand, holstering it. Moving to her suitcases, she pulled out an extra clip of ammo. Then she noticed Harvey leaning on the door jam, and as an afterthought she also pulled out a pair of handcuffs.  
  
"What are we going to do?" Dent asked, still lingering in the doorway. He was obviously trying to stay out of the detective's way. She brushed past him again, heading back towards the phone.  
  
"WE? We," she took a deep breath, surprised at his level of commitment to this. Normally he would be calling for a new flip by now. She put her one hand into her pocket and touched his coin. Still there. "We aren't going to do anything. I am going to get the bastard and YOU are staying here!"  
  
"NO!"  
  
Harvey grabbed her by the arm and spun her around to face him.  
  
"You can't go alone, and you couldn't raise your partner on the phone." He let that sink in a moment. "I'm going with you."  
  
Montoya jerked her arm away from his light grasp and glared at him. There was no way that she was going to let him, TwoFace and all around psycho, tell her how to run her investigation. When she spoke, it was deadly calm and single pointed.  
  
"No…You…Are…Not."  
  
She picked up the phone again and called dispatch. She asked for backup and gave all the appropriate information that they would need. Then she picked up Dent's keys and pocketed them.  
  
"Hey, those are ours!"  
  
"Yeah, I know. I'm borrowing them. Now, please, just stay here, ok?"  
  
Montoya had just finished putting on her heavy leather jacket when Harvey grabbed her by the arm and forced her to look at him.  
  
"Don't go. We have a bad feeling about this, Renee! He SAW you working at his computer. What if it's a trap?"  
  
Montoya knew full well that it could be a trap, after what she had learned on the computer earlier. There was only one way she could think of to make sure that Dent could not be framed for anything, should tonight not work out well. She felt a guilty pain in her chest, knowing what she was about to do.  
  
"I'm sorry, Harvey," She whispered, and he looked at her with confusion in his eyes. Moments later she had snapped her handcuffs around his free arm and then to the drawer handle of the small desk, which had been built into the wall of the room. Quickly she backed away from him as he stared at her in shock.  
  
"I can't have you there, Harvey. It would compromise the case, you know that."  
  
"Renee!"  
  
Whoa, didn't think you had it in you. Looks like you could be fun, yet, eh Harv? Who wouldda thought she was the kinky type!  
  
It always crept Montoya out when he held conversations between both personalities. She looked into his eyes and saw his anger and frustration. Slowly, she backed away from him towards the door. She stopped when she spotted her purse and cell phone on the desk. She would just have to come back for them Dent was struggling to free himself, but to no avail. The hotel desks had been manufactured to take a beating and stay in one piece. He looked back at Montoya, realizing that he was stuck.  
  
"We said we'd help, Renee," he said in a defeated tone. " We trusted you." His shoulders slumped as he looked at her with more hurt than anger.  
  
"I…I," She could not think of anything so say that would take the hurt from his eyes. She went with best she could come up with, which was bad enough.  
  
"I warned you, I told you I'd take you in when this was over, but you just had to keep coming around…" Renee had made it to the door now. "I'll be back for you, I promise."  
  
With that said, she turned her back on Dent who tonight was the lesser of the two evils. Opening the door, she left to go catch a killer. 


	10. Chapter 10

"Where the Hell is my backup?"  
  
Montoya paced in the ally, irritably glancing at her watch. She had already been there for fifteen minutes and there was still no sign of her partner or any uniformed officers. She looked hesitantly at the "abandoned" building. Someone was home. A light shone through one of the second floor windows.  
  
Debating what she should do, she mentally kicked herself. Morley had been a far to obvious suspect from the beginning. Even after his domineering and volatile side had shown itself, she still had not truly suspected him. The fraud was more of a cover than anything, Montoya had realized a bit to late. Looking around again, the detective tried to find a payphone, wanting to find out where her back up was. That was when she heard the desperate scream for help that came from within the building.  
  
"Damn," she swore, pulling out her firearm and taking off the safety. She knew that she had to go in now. There was no getting around it. Having given the building the once over already, she knew that there were only two entrances, the front door and the back. The front was padlocked from the outside so that meant there was only one way in and one way out.  
  
Taking a deep breath, she quietly opened the door and slipped inside. A quick check of the room showed it to be empty. She moved into the front of the building, clearing each room as she went. Silently, she prayed for her backup.   
  
~Well, luck never did seem to go my way~ she thought as she stood at the foot of the stairway a few minutes later. Montoya looked up, from the cover of the door jam and saw that the building only seemed to span two more floors. It was about that time that she realized that is was far to quiet in the building. Her movements should have alerted Morley of someone's presence. In the distance she heard the creaking moan of the fire escape.   
  
The fire escape had been in such bad repair that Montoya had ruled it out as a potential exit. She now spared a glance out a nearby window and saw that it was vacant. The detective returned her attention to the stairs, and cautiously started up them. About halfway up, she heard loud crying that came from the next floor.   
  
Curious yet still on high alert, Montoya took the stairs two at a time. Luckily, she maintained a fair amount of stealth, barely making any noise as she raced up. That was, until she reached the landing. When she placed her weight upon it, the floor there gave way and she tumbled quite gracelessly to the floor. She had to make a very pronounce turn of her body to be able to grab the railing and keep herself from falling down the stairs.  
  
"Damn it," she whispered, slightly stunned, but more upset with herself for her clumsy mistake than anything. Her ankle hurt and so did her left wrist, which was from the hand that had grabbed the railing. It throbbed mercilessly. Before she could talk herself out of her next move, she quickly tugged on her left hand. The bone that had popped out of place slid back into position, with a flash of pain.  
  
"Is…Is somebody there? HELP!"  
  
It was Summer's voice. Renee noted to herself that she sounded scared and hurt. There was something else in her voice, something that she could not put her finger on at the moment. Scrambling to her feet, she grabbed her gun once more. Her left arm she drew close to her body in a protective manner.  
  
"GCPD. Is there anyone in here with you?"   
  
As Montoya spoke, her voice took on it's normal authoritative tone. Still cautious, now at the floor as well as for any unknown assailants, she skirted around the hole that she had put in the floor. She stuck close to the wall, figuring that it would be more supported than the center of the floor.  
  
"N…No, he ran off. PLEASE, help me! He hurt me!"  
  
There was a panic to Summer's voice now, yet there was still that something else in her voice. It made Renee pause and check the room before entering it. However the room truly appeared to be empty, aside from Summer who was half lying and half sitting on an old bed tied to it's railing. She was clothed, but was getting soaked with the blood that seeped from numerous wounds on her arms and torso.  
  
"Bella?" Summer asked, lookingat Montoya, confused.  
  
"Detective Montoya, GCPD," Renee clarified for the injured woman as she checked the window that led to the fire escape. It was empty. She then quickly holstered her Berretta and hurried over to Summer, pulling out her Swiss Army knife. She sliced through the woman's rope bonds easily.  
  
"I'm sorry." Summer looked at the detective, with tears in her eyes. She was shaking and Montoya tried her best to calm her. With every effort, Summer seemed to get worse, not better. Still trying to calm her, Renee busied herself cutting strips of cloth from the sheet to bandage her to the best of her ability. It was not pretty, but it seemed to stop the flow of blood. Montoya's growing concern was Summer and her apparent state of shock. She needed professional help, soon. That was when she heard the click of a gun being primed and a voice spoke up from behind her.  
  
"How utterly predictable, pig!"  
  
Montoya froze when she heard Morley's venomous voice. Still focused on Summer, she saw the girl's eyes widen with fear and sorrow. She mouthed "I'm sorry" to Renee one last time, before he continued.  
  
"Please do step away from Summer and place your gun on the floor."  
  
Carefully and slowly she slid her knife into her jacket sleeve as she went to remove her gun. She silently berated herself for letting her guard down and for being so trusting. She stepped away from the injured woman, hoping that if there was gunfire that she would not get caught in the crossfire. Then she knelt down, her eyes on Morley and placed the weapon on the floor.  
  
"Kick it here!"  
  
"Let her go first." It was not a request that she issued. It was a command of her own. His gun remained pointed at her, but he seemed to be considering it. Montoya knew he was weighing is options. He could use Summer against him or continue to train the gun on her. She knew if she could just get Summer out of the building, they both would have a better chance of getting out of this alive.  
  
As it stood, she only seemed to have three ways of getting out of this alive. The first; her back up could actually show. She knew that they eventually would, it was just a matter of whether or not there would be a bullet in her head. The second; Batman could show. She turned that option down. Had he been there, Morley would have been tied up and incapacitated before she had even stepped foot in the building. The third option; she would have to get herself out of this mess. She was not willing to try such a drastic measure, however, until she could get Summer out of harm's way.  
  
"I told you, pig, to slide the gun over here…NOW!"  
  
He was getting agitated, and Montoya knew better than to argue with the man. She thought back to what she had read on the computer and knew he was not planning on killing her right away. He needed TwoFace there, to frame him. Luckily for Dent, he would have a solid alibi if she did not make it out of this. Reluctantly she slid her gun over to Morley.  
  
"Now, let her go! You don't need her."  
  
Much to her surprise, he nodded his head in agreement.  
  
"Go home baby. You did real good. I told you that you wouldn't get to badly hurt. I'll be home soon."  
  
Summer stumbled to her feet, obviously still in shock. Without looking at either of them she ran out of the room as fast as her injuries would allow. Her blood trailed behind her. Renee could hardly fault the girl, for running or her earlier deception. She was just another battered woman, trying to endure. He had probably threatened to kill her if she had not helped him.  
  
"What now, Morley?"  
  
Montoya spoke only after she heard the backdoor slam and she knew that Summer was relatively safe. That was as long as no one else accosted her on her way home. Morley had to be an idiot, to think that he could actually frame Dent for his murders. Physical evidance aside, there was enough trace evidance that he left behind to convict him. It was case closed, even if he did kill her and find away to finger Dent for the murders. She was not about to let him in on that and she kept her mouth shut.  
  
"Put your hands together, in front of you." He grabbed a length of rope from behind him. Slowly, she raised her arms at the elbow, feeling her knife slid even further into her jacket sleeve. She placed her hands together, trying to allow for a small bit of movement on her part. He was not that giving. After tying her to the point of restricting blood flow, he pushed her back towards the bed, causing her to fall on her bottom, hard. He then tied her ankles and gagged her.  
  
"Now be a good girl and wait here." Morley strode out of the room with an arrogant swagger to his step. She listened as he proceeded down the stairs and into the front room. She could not fathom what he was doing down there…Waiting, perhaps? For what? TwoFace? That was when she realized the major flaw in Morley's plan. His plan called for a very specific course of action. The thing with TwoFace was that he was unpredictable. When he flipped for something, he damn well would do whatever the coin told him to…That was until he decided it was time to flip again, whether there was a reason to flip again or not. Morley was counting on a predictable course of action, when Dent was anything but.  
  
Hoping to use that to her advantage, she quickly shook her knife out of her sleeve and started to work on her bonds. Minutes passed and Morley remained downstairs. The knife slipped more times than she would have liked. By the time her wrists were unbound, she had several cuts upon her own hands and arms. Ignoring that pain, and the pain of her ever throbbing wrist, she bent over and undid her legs then her gag. Now, she would have to get downstairs without him hearing.   
  
Montoya knew that that would require an amount of stealth that she simply did not have. Glancing about the room she turned her attention outside. There was the fire escape, which went both down and up. Could it hold her weight without betraying her location? That was when she noticed the ledge that went around the whole building. It was about three inches wide and seemed to span the entire building. She remembered that there was a pile of crates in the back that had been stacked up against the wall. If she could make it to the back of the building, she knew she could get back in.  
  
Not bothering to think of the reasons not to, she quickly set out upon the ledge. She forced herself to put one foot in front of the other and not to look anywhere but directly in front of her. The night cloaked her activity, and for one brief moment she felt more like one of Gotham's vigilantes than the cop that she was. An interminable amount of time passed before she finally reached the spot where the crates were. Only then did she allow herself a moment to gather herself together before lowering herself to the alleyway below.  
  
Montoya approached the door slowly. She kept to the shadows and was afraid that at any moment Morley would discover that she was gone and her element of surprise would be as well. All went well for her, however, and she even found the door still open from where it had slapped shut and rebounded open at Summer's sudden departure. She glanced around her , looking for a suitable weapon. Her little knife had been handy when she had needed it, yet she doubted it would be of much help against Morley. She spotted part of an old muffler's tail pipe and grabbed it up, before re-entering the building.  
  
Having already explored the lower floor, she knew the layout fairly well. Instead of going to the front room the direct route, which was straight down a long hallway, she took a longer route. Passing through several empty rooms she hugged the walls to keep in the shadows. Renee finally reached the entrance to the main front room. There was no door here anymore, it had been forced open long ago.  
  
Crouching low, she peered into the next room, still clutching her make shift club. Morley was standing in front of the main window, looking out of it, apparently searching the dark street. Montoya knew that if she were to just sneak up behind him, he would spot her reflection in the window. He had stuck his gun at the small of his back, as if holstered. She, however, did not see her gun. She wondered if he was carrying it on him, or if he had set it down somewhere.  
  
Cursing, Morley pulled a cell phone from his pocket and dialed a number, muttering something that she could not hear. At this point, she did not care. With his hands busy she knew he was not holding her gun. While he started talking quietly into the phone, she decided now was as good a time as any to make her move. Crouching low, she crept into the room, trying to stay out of his line of sight in the window.  
  
Just as Morley hung up his phone, she reached him. Not wasting any time, she grabbed his gun from where it lay exposed and stood. She then pointed the gun at his head, her makeshift club in her other hand.  
  
"Freeze, asshole!"  
  
He swung at her, and was far quicker than Renee had imagined him being. He hit her square in the face, causing her head to whip back. Not that it deterred her. She cocked the hammer of the gun back with her one hand, and with the other blocked a second punch with her pipe. His hand hit the hard metal and he howled, clutching his hand to his body. She then dropped the pipe and gave his hindquarters a swift kick. He fell over already off balance and she placed a foot at his neck, the gun still aimed at him. In the distance she heard the sound of police sirens approaching.  
  
*****  
  
The sun was just rising over the horizon when Montoya was dropped off at the hotel. She was tired and hurting. All she wanted to do was go home to her apartment, but she had made a promise. Several of the officers had offered to take TwoFace back to Arkham for her but she had refused. She wanted to see this thing thru to the end.  
  
Slowly, she made her way back to the room that Dent had rented. She paused, more than a bit nervous. When she had left, he had not been happy. Now with hours to stew and locked to a desk, she was worried that she was going to have to deal with a very upset man. Softly, she knocked on the door to room 202. When she received no answer, she knocked again, louder.  
  
"Harvey?"  
  
When there was still no answer she tried the door which to her surprise was open. When she entered the room, she found it empty. Puzzled, she went over to the desk. Her cuffs were lying on the desk, neatly placed there. Her purse had been opened and some change lay scattered on the desk. Laying next to her cuffs lay a single golden one dollar coin, face down and her cuff keys, which she had forgotten in her purse.  
  
***  
  
An hour later, Montoya was let into her apartment by her landlord. She could not find her keys anywhere and wondered just where she had lost them. Locking the door she pushed it from her mind, deciding to worry about it later. Right now she wanted a hot bath and sleep, in that order. She set her purse and her cell phone on the table next to her answering machine, which was blinking. After plugging in her cell to recharge, she pressed play.  
  
*BEEP*  
  
Renee, it's Momma. Could you come over? Your father found out that Benny is moving in with Alahna. He's quite upset. Call me, please?  
  
"Right, so I can take the brunt of his wrath?" Montoya emptying her pockets contents onto the table. Her father was a good man and she loved him, but he was very opinionated and not afraid to show his disapproval. If she went over there now he would just start in on her as well. Shaking her head, but glad for Benny, she turned on her small stereo system and hit random. As the music started to play she headed off to the bathroom.  
  
Her wounds had been more superficial than anything and the paramedics had placed Nu-skin on her arms where she had cut herself. Unwrapping her wrist, she saw that it was not nearly as swollen as she had expected it to be. She turned on the water in the tub, adding a nice bit of Jasmine oil to the steaming water.  
  
She did not know how long she had been laying in the tub when she suddenly sat upright, and pulled a towel to her. Her music…It was not playing anymore. A knot formed in her stomach as she stepped out of the tub and quickly donned a white bathrobe, tying it securely around her. She crept to the front room, unsure as to why she was so tense.  
  
Looking around the room, everything appeared to be the way she left it. She chastised herself for her paranoia and started to head back to the bathroom. That was when her cell phone rang and she stopped dead in her tracks. She had turned the phone off when she had plugged it in. Slowly, she turned back around towards the table and noticed that things were in fact different. Two roses lay next to her purse, one white and the other red. Her missing keys were also there, next to the ringing phone. And TwoFace's coin, it was gone. She snatched up the phone.  
  
"Hello?"  
  
:: ….It's me.  
  
She recognized his voice anywhere. Running her fingers through her wet hair, she sighed.  
  
"Are you ok, Harvey?"  
  
::I just wanted to apologize for leaving you like that. It was time for us to move on.   
  
"I understand…" She was not sure what to say to him knowing he had been in her home. "You could have just knocked you know."  
  
:: We aren't ready to go back there, not yet. When we are, I'll let you know, ok?  
  
It was the best offer that she was going to get, she realized.  
  
"Sounds fair, I suppose." She stared down at the roses, and picked one up. "Thank you."  
  
:: I've got to go. Goodbye, Renee. Take care.  
  
*CLICK*  
  
Sighing, she hung up the phone and turned it off once more. She should call the incident in. She would have to change her locks now. She picking up the other rose and went into her kitchen and placed the flowers in a bud vase, and returned to her bath. The craziness that was Gotham could wait, just a bit longer. She would handle it tomorrow.  
  
~~~~~~~~~  
  
Yeah! My first fic is officially DONE!  
  
Please review and stay tuned for my next fic centered around the life of the lovely Detective Montoya.  
  
GCPD Files: Family Matters 


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